Episode 2 – Chains and the Kasbah

Inspired by @Diane-de-la-Cheneraye

Inspired by

The Harem

The women’s quarters smelled of spices and sweat, sunlight filtering through latticed windows to paint walls with shifting geometry.

Anna beheld a silent tapestry of captives: pale Circassians braided with pearls, Andalusian Moriscas speaking two tongues, Black African women with hennaed skin, Berber girls tattooed in indigo.

They were bound by chains unseen as much as those that clanked.

> What is captivity but a silence imposed, a voice stolen? And yet even silence can become a song

The Dey’s Palace

Through carved cedar gates and fragrant gardens blooming with orange blossoms, Anna was led to the Dey’s dais. His dark eyes, shadowed beneath a black beard streaked with silver, regarded her without surprise or mercy.

He spoke in Turkish; a translator rendered his question.

> “Who are you, and what ransom do you demand?”

Anna met his gaze, steady despite the fear.

> “I am Anna of Austria, wife to Philip, King of Spain and the Indies.”

The court murmured. To the Dey, she was both prize and pawn.

> My name is gold in treaties, but here it is dust beneath their feet.

Arrival in Algiers

Dawn revealed Algiers’ jagged coastline: white fortresses and slender minarets rising above ochre rooftops. The Kasbah fortress stood stern and proud, cannon batteries trained on the harbor, a stark reminder of centuries of conflict.

Anna’s knees ached from two nights shackled. Janissaries in steel helms and embroidered kaftans watched impassively as captives were unloaded.

> A queen must never kneel, but what remains when the crown is stripped away, and only flesh remains to be claimed?